Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian yesterday announced Opal will go live on 75 buses in Penrith and the Blue Mountains next week, as the countdown continues to retire a number of old paper tickets on 1 September 2014.
The roll out of Opal is steaming ahead, with customers now able to tap on and tap off all suburban and intercity trains, all Sydney Ferries and more than 1,750 buses across Sydney.
Ms Berejiklian said the latest Opal milestone would benefit customers catching Blue Mountains Bus Co services in Penrith, Emu Plains and the Blue Mountains – as far west as Mount Victoria.
“More than 450,000 Opal cards have already been issued, giving customers access to cheaper fares, daily travel caps, free travel rewards and the convenience of never having to queue for a ticket again,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“It is fantastic that customers are embracing Opal in such large numbers. With the start of Opal pop-up kiosks on 28 major stations this week, we’re seeing even more people sign up to Opal ahead of the retirement of 14 paper ticket types on 1 September.”
Ms Berejiklian said Opal cards are now available through the Opal website, call centre, pop-up kiosks at major train stations, and will soon be available at more than 1,000 retailers.
“Around 70 per cent of customers are choosing to link their Opal card to a credit or debit card so it automatically tops up and they never have to worry about queuing for a ticket or manually topping up their card.”
Member for Penrith Stuart Ayres welcomed the arrival of Opal on more buses in Western Sydney and encouraged locals to sign up for their free Opal card today.
“Public transport customers can either go on-line or call up to get their Opal card sent to their home, or they can visit the pop-up kiosk at Penrith Station on Monday and Tuesday mornings and Monday afternoons until the end of September,” Mr Ayres said.
To coincide with the retirement of some paper tickets, the NSW government has released a series of new ‘Opal Man’ videos. The fourth video in the series is now available to view at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsh6vFilXIE
Published in Indian diaspora magazine, Sydney
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